Ventilator and refrigerator car



"(.No Model.)

E..T..FAP,L. VENTILATR AND RBPRIGBRATOR CAR. No. 583,794.

, Patente-d June 1, 1897;

v EDWIN 'il' EARL, OF'LOS ANGELES, GALIFQ'RNIA.

VEN-maren AND REFmeERA-ron cAa SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No."583,794, dated June 1 i897.,

Y .Application llled August 2l, 1.893. Serial No. 483,668. (No model). I y

To all whom it maylrcoccern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN T. EARL, a citilren of the United States, residingat Los Angoles, in the' county ofLos Angeles and State of California, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Refrigerator-Cars, of which the following is a specification;

This invention relatesto improvements in refrigerator-cars, and more particularly toa that class of ears wherein ice.is-carried` in suitable tanks or receptacles located at the ends thereof. V e

Heretofore in handling cars so -arranged it" has been necessaryto ll the ice-tank to its full capacityin order that' the refrigerationline might be raised 'above the contents of the car when packed. VThis is rendered needful for the reason that the refrigeration, or cold air, willnot extendhigher thanthe topl of 'the ice. full capacity has been objectionable for the reason that the ice'is Arequired principally at the warm location-where the car is packed or loaded, andat that locality, by reason of the climate, the price of theice is at the maximum of expense. This objection is particularlypronounced in the transportation of fruit which is raisedinthe localities of warm climates and there packed for shipment, while a short run from these localitiescarries the car `into cooler climates, where the expense of ice'ismuch reduced. Further,

`in cold seasons, where thereis little added artificial refrigeration needed,r it is still necL e'ssary to pack the' ice-tanks to the full capacity in order to raise the ice and refrigerationline vabovethe contents of the car.

My invention is designed to overcome these difficulties 'and disadvantages, and is to be distinguished from the carin which ythe bottoin of the ice-box is'made to slide vertically for adjustment to any point,I and whicli has.

speciatand obvious disadvantages. l

My invention consists of a hinged supplemental orv intermediate floor, whereby the upper-part alone of the box may be used to contain the ice, or the whole may be so used, and the adjustment or conversion of the box may be readily edected en route and without interference with the contents of the car, either by raising the .hinged 'intermediate iioor orA by lowering the same; but I prefer This pack-ing of the ice to the' the construction shown for raising the said hinged door, since I have found it more convenient in practice, for the reason that it 5 5 avoids movable supports underthe'intermediate door, which supports are necessarily and with difficulty operated from above.`

My invention further consists in forming the said intermediate hinged floor in twc in- 6o 'dependent'parts or sections, whereby theice remaining on the intermediate licor may be disposed of when for full refrigeration the whole box is-to be lled by. pushing the rel maining ice to one section, moving the freed' 65 section, and then pushing the ice from the remaining section andA letting it fall to the bottom of the box. `Ifthe door be made in one part, the iiooris difficult to move-in fact, cannot bev raised-,and if madeto drop thel7o catches are hard'to work. M'Further, if the door is dropped, the bofdyvof ice hinders it from being raised again until substantially all of the ice has been removed.

In theV drawings, Figure lis a longitudinal 7 5 vertical'section of a refrigeration -car provided'with my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view in cross-section,- shofwing the auxiliary shelf or bottom. Fig. 3 is a perspective view in detail, showing the auxiliary shelf or -bot- 8o vtom in position andmeans for mounting it in theice-tank.v c

For convenience of description with reference to the drawings I will let the letters A A designate the ice-tanks atthe ends of the car B.l These tanks ordinarily are provided with theslatted bottoms E to allow the cold air to sink through the ice and pass out into the body of the car and into the contents or load.- In ordinary operation this cold air dis- 9o tributes itself across the bottom of the car among'the contents, from which it gradually extracts Warmth' and is raised by other colder air coming from the ice-tanks. As the air rises it continues to abstract heat from the contents'of the car until it reaches the., top, where it passes through suitable openings in` the ice-tank to be. again `cooled by contact with the ice to repeatl the operation above described. lt will be observed that in roo this operation the heat in the contents is abstracted with a rapidity proportionate to the quantity of ice consumed, or, in other words,

the units of heat taken from the load are pro.-

2 A Ii portionate to the unitsl of cold xtaken from the ice-tank; also, while the operation of the icetank, as above'descrihed, is slow the airis held in contact with the ice for a great lengt-h of time, in which it is rendered extremely cold, so that when `it is expelled into the body of the car it abstracts so much more heat from the load as to produce rapid refrigeration.

To avoid the necessity of loading, the icet-anks to their full capacity at the disadvantages above mentioned, I provide the tanks with auxiliary bottoms D D', of a perforated or slatted construction, as designated by d in drawings, to permit the air to pass through them, as in the'permanent bot-toms E. vThese auxiliary bottoms may be secured in the tanks in anysuitable manner, but that preferred tank when'not in use, as shown in dottedl 'lines Fig. 1, while in the latter construction the bottoms are dropped against the side below the hinged connection, as shown i'n Fig. 3. Both constructions have in View the same object, which is the transferring the ice from the auxiliary bottom'D D to the bottom E should any remain after the run in which the diminished quantity of ice is used.

By the construction shwn at Fig. 1' the unloading is accomplished by clearing one of the sections D D"by transferring the ice on the other, then-raising the cleared section and sliding the ice from theremaining section through the hole thus formed to the door `below and raising 4the remaining section so the whole 'tank may be loaded. By the'construction shown at Fig. 3 this operation may -be accomplished, it being only necessary to turn the stops J from under the auxiliary bottoms D, when the whole load is dropped by the bottoms falling to the position shown in dotted lines. To turn the stops J, they are' provided with the rod K, mounted in suitable bearings on the side of the tank and terminating in a handle at the top of the ice-tank. Neither of these constructions, however, are essential to my invention, as any auxiliary bottom orshelf to subdivide thechest to carrya diminished quantity of ice -at or above the packing-line for the contents of thecar, how

ever secured in the chest, will, in conjunction with the other elements of this invention, come within 'the scope thereof.

To produce the requiredrefri gerationat th 4effect of which isto reduce the temperature of the contents of the car in proportionate celerated ventilation the circulation of airdef I scribed` in the first part of the specification would be as slow as in a full tank with only one-half or less refrigeration effect,'passing over one-half the quantity of ice. This would not be sufficient to prevent the starting of de-` cay while on the run; where the need for saving in cost of ice is required. 1

'lhe means employed by me to produce the forced draft is to place on the top of the car over the ice-tanks scoop-shaped extensions opened in opposite directions lengthwise of the car. These extensions coperate, the one to catch and force the air into the car through the ice-tank at one end, while the other causes a vacuum which draws the air out of the car 'at the other end. The effect of this copera-l tion is to produce a strong forcedy draft through the ice and car.A In forming these extensions I may employ the doors t-o the icetanks used for loading the ice. By hinging the'doors so they openin opposite'directions I form of them deflectors, the forward one of which forces the air dow'n into the car through the ice, While theother forms the partial vacuum above described. These. doors may be maintained in an open position by any suitable means, such as hooks, which will maintain the doors securely in position. Another and preferred device to hpld the doorsv open is to fit wedge-shaped pieces of wood or sheet-iron on the sides of the'door to rest on the roof and holdiiirmly the door.

4I oo Where this invention is used, the forwardice-tank only need be supplied with ice, andthis only partly illed,as described, for the? draft is taken in at the forward end" over then ice and carried through the load 'of'A the car until discharged tlirough the opening provided at the rear. Greater proportion of consumptionA in the smaller quantity of ice takes place by reason of the larger quantity of air handled, but -the eifect is the same as that 1 which would be produced by the use of a large quantity of ice and slow circulation of air.

When a car provided with the invention arrives at the station Where ice is cheap Aand where it is desired to pack the entire tank for the long run this may be readily accomplished as above described by lowering what ice reprovided with an intermediate or supplemental floor loosely supported Within the tank, and adapted to be turned against the wall of the tank, or to lie as a floor across the said tank, substantially as described.

2. In a refrigerator-car, an ice chest or boX having openings at the top and bottom communicating with the upper and lower part of the car, and having also a floor at the bottom and provided with an intermediate or supplemental door, hinged and movable to lie across the ice-box as a iioor or against the Wall, and means for supporting said floor in position across the said ice-box, the parts being constructed and combined, substantially as described. Y

3. In a refrigerator-car, an ice chest or boX having openings atl the top and bottom, and

having also a iloor at the bottom, and provided with an intermediate or supplemental Hoor formed in two hinged and movable to lie across the ice-box as a floor or against the Wall, and means for parts independently a supporting said iioor in position across the 'said ice-box, the parts being constructed and combined, substantially as described.

4. Inarefrigerator-oa'r, an ice-tank having openings at top and bottom, and having a oor at the bottom, and provided also with an intermediate or supplemental iioor'formed in two parts separately supported, whereby one of such parts can be moved independently of the other so as to provide an opening for discharging ice from both of said parts into the bottom of the tank, substantiallyas described.

i Y EDWIN T.-EARL. Witnesses: 'Q l JAMES R. ToWNsEND,

A. CURTIS. 

